The afternoon sun beat down on the empty highway. A woman strolled along beside it, whistling a merry tune. She was tall for a female human, measuring five inches over six feet. She walked with a small spring in her step, despite the large, black duffle bag weighing heavy on her right shoulder. Even though the day was warm, she wore a short, wool, hooded cape of grey, fastened by a single button at her throat. The gravel on the side of the two-lane road crunched under her gray leather boots that covered the bottoms of her dark gray jeans up to the knee. The only color on her seemed to be her red bangs. The rest of her short hair was platinum, parted from ear to ear by a grey headband. Her eyes, as well, lent a little color. They were almost blood red with an unnatural glow about them, the only indication that she might not be as human as she appeared.
After a while the whistling stopped. It took her a few minutes to realize that the sounds of the wildlife had stopped too. There was a faint, far away sound though, somewhat muted by the forest of trees along the highway. She stopped to listen, only to start when Beethoven's Fifth filled the air around her. Realizing it was her cell phone, she pulled it out of her back pocket with her right hand. She didn't even glance at the caller ID before she put the phone to her ear.
"Yes, Echo?" she asked.
{Just wanted to warn you, ma'am, that there is a cluster of Autobot and Decepticon signals moving closer to your position} replied the smooth voice on the other end.
"From the west?"
{Yes. They are still some distance away.}
"I can faintly hear them."
{Would you like me to send you a ground bridge?}
"No. I-"
{Liliy, do you want me to come get you?} interrupted a new voice through the phone.
"No, Leecher. I was about to say that I want to stay here. I want to see the fight."
{But what if you are seen?} Leecher replied.
"As long as I am careful, they won't be able to tell the difference. After all, I have had centuries of practice at 'being human'."
{But-}
"I've made up my mind, Leecher. Watch over the boys for me. I'll call back when I can."
Liliy ended the call and pocketed her phone. Her facial features flickered briefly like a hologram and her eyes appeared more human with reddish-brown irises and no glow.
The sounds were louder now and more distinct. She could make out the blaster fire, the heavy footfalls, the clanging of metal on metal, and the snapping of trees and limbs. Minutes later, chaos in the form of giant robots erupted from the treeline fifty meters from the other side of the road.
The Autobots were grateful for the sudden open area. It made it easier to get at the Vehicons but it also meant the Cons could get at them easier as well. Arcee backflipped to avoid being backhanded. She caught a glimpse of the road as she did and had to turn to look again when she landed in a crouch. There was female human standing by the road. Her expression was oddly admiring, but her posture was tense. Heat singed across Arcee's faceplates as a blaster bolt passed mere inches from her optics. She fell back on her aft and glared up at the advancing Con. With another glance at the human and a growl, she pushed off the grass covered ground and leapt at her attacker. A couple of punches and a slice from her arm blades and he was down. Arcee spared another glance at the road. The human was still there. One servo turned to a blaster to keep the Cons at bay while her other servo went to her commlink.
"Optimus," she spoke urgently on the Autobot's private channel to her leader, "we've been spotted by a human. Behind us, by the road."
{Acknowledged} came the answer.
Liliy was fascinated. She had seen footage of skirmishes like this before but seeing it in person was quite different. Unlike the 'friendly' competition fights that her 'boys' did, this was a fight for survival. It hurt her spark to watch so many lives ending but that was war, she knew. She could feel the ground trembling with movement of heavy bodies. She heard the crunches and shrieks of abused metal plating. The smell of spilled energon and scorched material, both organic and non, filled the air.
The blue femme had spotted her and almost got her helm blown off for looking away from the battle. However, that did not stop her from glancing Liliy's way every so often while she fought. Liliy pretended not to notice and focused on watching the tallest of the Autobots. Her attention wavered when a feeling of dread washed over her. Her sensors indicated incoming from the sky. She turned her gaze to the bright blue expanse that was dotted with a few wispy clouds. Seven dark shapes assumed a v-formation and a space bridge closed behind them. Liliy's eyes went wide and she stiffened when she recognized the dark purple UAV in the lead.
The eradicons behind broke formation. Soundwave dropped back and let them take the lead. They saw the Autobots but they also saw the lone human standing by the road. She would be their first target. They fell into a dive and opened fire.
At the very last second, Liliy realized that she was the eradicons' target. She was three steps across the road when the first couple bolts hit where she had been standing. The resulting shock wave knocked her flat on her face on the unforgiving asphalt and pelted her with rocks and dust. Liliy just laid there in a daze. Her optics flickered and her audio receptors rang with static. The ground shook beneath her. She wasn't sure if it was more blaster fire or heavy footfalls, but it only served to worsen her headache. Everything went dark and silent momentarily as she reset her optics and audios.
When her optics came back online, her audios were taking longer to reset, she opened them and saw nothing but the side of a giant metal foot. She rolled onto her left side, the duffle bag preventing her from rolling fully onto her back. The dark foot led to a oversized, blue calf. The leg continued up and up. Optimus Prime stood over her, shooting at the flyers.
A myriad of loud sounds assaulted her audio receptors. Blaster fire. Turning gears. Heavy footfalls. Moving metal. Pained grunts and groans. Liliy cringed and curled in on herself. Her receptors took another moment to adjust to a more tolerable level. She uncurled quickly and sat up to assess the situation.
The Autobots stood in a circle on the road. A few vehicons remained, coming at them from the forest. The eradicons transformed and landed on their other side. Soundwave stayed airborne, watching as he circled overhead. Since the flyers were now where Optimus could reach them, he lunged forward, leaving Liliy feeling very exposed. A loud snap resounded over the area. One of the eradicons broke a tree off near the roots. Wielding it like a lance, he used it to hit Optimus in the helm as the larger bot turned to face him.
Liliy looked up when a shadow passed over her. She cursed as she scrambled to her feet. The top edge of the plating on the middle of Prime's back snagged her left shoulder. She could not feel the initial touch but she did feel her own plating bending out of place as more weight was added. Cringing, she twisted out from under him and stumbled backwards before falling on her aft.
"Optimus!" cried Arcee.
All the vehicons were down. Driven by concern for their leader, the other Autobots made quick work of the remaining eradicons. Soundwave, however, disappeared into a bridge just after Optimus fell.
Liliy just sat there rubbing her shoulder. There was no pain, no warnings on her HUD but she knew that her plating was bent out of shape. As long as she wasn't bleeding, she wasn't going to worry about it. Her holographic layer would hide the damage. She noticed then that the ground was vibrating. Optimus' shoulder was only a few feet from her and she was sitting between his helm and his left smoke stack.
Optimus groaned as he came back online. The increased vibrations from his frame caused Liliy to flinch. The other three Autobots gathered around him, concerned.
"Optimus, are you ok?" asked Bulkhead.
"Where is the human?" responded Prime, his voice staticy.
"On your left," Liliy answered.
Optimus turned his helm and looked at her out of the corner of his optic. She scooted away from his helm so he could see her.
"Hey." She offered a small smile.
"Are-" There was more static in his voice. He reset his vocalizer. It helped a little. "Are you alright?"
"Just peachy considering I was just shot at, thrown about, and nearly flattened." Her tone carried a hint of sarcasm, but it was lost when she spoke again. "What about you? Are you alright? Cause, you know, you just got hit in the face with a tree."
"I am fine."
"I don't know, Optimus. Can you retract your battle mask with that big dent in it?" asked Arcee.
Instead of answering her, Optimus sat up. The ground stopped vibrating. Liliy watched as the Autobots helped their leader completely to his feet. She grimaced when he turned around to look down at her and she got the full view of his face. The dent wasn't just in his battle mask. The vent on the right side of his helm was bent and smashed, meaning the dent most likely went all the way to his face plates. Liliy shrank away when Optimus knelt on one knee to get a closer look at her. She masked her concern over the small trickle of energon dripping off his chin by pretending to be afraid of him.
"We mean you no harm," he said gently, his baritone still laced with static, "but we cannot leave you here. Our enemies might come back and they will harm you if they find you. Will you please come with us? We will explain everything to you once we return to the safety of our base."
Liliy looked at the faces of the other Autobots. They all seemed a bit tense still, ready to go. The humanoid femme sighed as she got to her feet. She looked back up Optimus.
"Alright. I'll go with you. But only because it looks like you are bleeding and I doubt you would agree to leave me if I said no."
"What?" exclaimed Arcee.
She came around to Prime's front as the mech put a servo to his chin and pulled it away to find his digits wet with energon. Arcee's servo went to her commlink.
"Ratchet, we need a ground bridge. Optimus has been injured."
"Whoa," Liliy breathed in feigned surprise when the pale green vortex spiraled to life not far from them a moment later. "We're going through that?"
"Yep," answered Bulkhead. "Don't worry, it's perfectly safe."
"Uh-huh," Liliy muttered. She followed Optimus as Arcee led him into the ground bridge. Bulkhead and Bumblebee brought up the rear.
Well, Liliy thought as she took her first step into the shining vortex, here goes nothing!
